Dec

28

2015

Dec 28, 2015

The First Discipleship Essential: Intentionality

Paul Worcester starts a 3-part series on discipleship essentials by sharing about the importance of intentionality.

“Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.” Isaiah 43:4

Years ago my mentor Max Barnett was spending some extended time with God at a conference in the mountains praying and seeking direction for his life and ministry. As Max was reading in his daily Bible reading calendar he came across Isaiah 43:4 and was impressed to ask God not for ministry “success” in the eyes of the world but to simply ask God for people – people who would be changed by the gospel, discipled in a deep and transforming way, and sent to multiply disciples to the ends of the earth. I am one of those people who is an answer to Max’s prayer that day. You may have never heard about Max Barnett and honestly he is fine with that. Right now there are thousands of people around the world who are making disciples because of Max’s ministry. Max has paid a tremendous price over the years to remain focused on making disciples. He would be first to admit that it has cost him much. Remember that in Isaiah 43:4 it says that nations and people will be impacted “in exchange for your life.”

Disciplemaking won’t cost you much. It will just cost your entire life.

I know that I don’t have to convince you that it’s worth it. But since we all only have one life to give for making disciples, we must narrowly focus on what is most essential in discipleship in order to leverage our entire lives for the one thing God has called us to do. In this series of posts, I want to share the three essentials that I learned from Max Barnett and that I am using in my ministry today.

Intentionality

What do you hope will be true of the person you are discipling a year from now? How about ten years from now? How about 40 years from now? Answering these questions should shape how you invest in students.

In our ministry we have a list of basic Biblical principles and training objectives that we want every disciple in our ministry to walk through. We want our students to understand and live out basics such as The Gospel, Lordship of Christ, daily time alone with God, scripture memory, prayer, evangelism, world vision, fellowship and more. Notice I said “training objectives” instead of lessons. Yes, lessons are an essential part of the process but the goal is that these concepts will be integrated into the disciple’s life. We don’t “move on” beyond the basics until we are convinced of true progress in the bottom line essentials of what it takes to have a vibrant walk with Jesus Christ.

LeRoy Eims, author of Lost Art of DiscipleMaking, said, “In helping a young Christian grow, you need a step-by-step building program in mind. You can develop certain objectives you want him to attain before he undertakes others. You want to see him go from taking in spiritual milk to partaking of spiritual meat.” We wrote free reproducible discipleship lessons and posted them on our website so that students can simply print them and use with minimal prep time. This has greatly helped the students who are starting to disciple others focus more on helping students live out the training objectives rather than spending lots of time preparing new Bible studies.

Having a set of our own free reproducible lessons has sped up the turnaround time from someone being discipled to discipling someone else.These “required” lessons are not exhaustive. They can easily be finished in a semester. We want to make our disciple-making process as simple and reproducible as possible.

We intentionally train our staff and students to be flexible in the order that they go through the lessons based on the needs each person has. For example, if a freshman just started a new dating relationship I may take a break from the lessons that I am going over with them and spend a couple weeks doing Bible studies, reading books, and listening to messages on dating. Then I help them craft a strategic plan for how they will glorify God through their relationship. How a student chooses to date in college can make or break their spiritual life and ability to have a personal ministry. It makes sense to focus on that for a few weeks until there is a good plan in place. This is just one example of a “tangent” I may take with a disciple. Other times, I will spend extra time helping a student with an addiction to pornography or who struggles with time management. Also if a student I am discipling just led someone to Christ then I will focus the next few weeks on how to follow up with a new believer.

We always encourage our team to resume working through the rest of the training objectives after a strategic tangent. Once they are done with our basic list of training objectives its up to the discipler to learn how to follow the Holy Spirit in discerning what the person they are training needs in order to continue growing and multiplying. We do provide suggested resources and book suggestions for further study on relevant topics as well as coaching from the person that is discipling them. None of our student leaders is ever left out on a limb with no one helping them craft their strategic plan for their disciples. Having a set list of training objectives for our students to work through has united our leaders and helped us multiply! I would encourage you to consider a “basic training course” of some sort to incorporate into your ministry. Feel free to use or adapt ours.

Disciplemaking is not a linear process. Disciplemaking is dealing with real people in the context of complex issues of life. Our goal is not to create cookie cutter versions of what we picture as the “ideal disciple.” Our goal is to instill a passionate love for Jesus and equip them to do their part in fulfilling the great commission in this generation. Each person has unique gifts, abilities and callings from God. I believe if we are faithful to help people gain traction in the basics of following Jesus then Jesus will guide them to maximize their fruitfulness. We only have a limited time to invest in each student. It is essential that we are intentional about making the most of every opportunity to point them to Jesus and fulfilling His mission.

Here are a few more practical ways to be intentional about how you invest in students.

Keep a discipleship journal. Track the progress you are making with those you disciple. I keep a journal of everyone I am discipling including specific prayers for them, what lessons I have already gone over with them (it can be awkward to forget and try and do the same lesson twice), goals they have that I helped them come up with, custom accountability questions based on their goals, what training objectives and materials I will focus on with them next. Anything you want to remember!

Regularly ask them questions that will help you assess where they are at and how you can help them. Questions I regularly ask are “What is one aspect of your character that you need to grow in most right now?” “What is one skill you would like to develop in order to serve God more effectively?” “What is your next step if you are going to have a personal ministry that multiplies disciples?”

Use “Cross Training.” Get them around wise and godly men and woman who can influence them and give specific help in various areas of life. Don’t create a culture in your ministry where the only input people are getting is from their discipler. Your local church should be an essential component for discipling your students. Students love to learn from older men and women who have walked with God for years.

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about the author

Paul and his wife Christy planted Christian Challenge at California State University, Chico from scratch. Since then hundreds of students have indicated decisions to become followers of Jesus, with many growing as disciples and learning to multiply their faith. Paul is the author of "Tips for Starting a College Ministry." He has a a passion for equipping and encouraging fellow collegiate leaders to make disciples on campus through his writing, speaking, consulting and social media. Paul and Christy have two children. Paul loves to surf and play other sports when possible.